Rotary valve.



W. J. TOWER.

ROTARY VALVE.

APPLICATION FILED own. 1915.

1,215,746. I Patc-ntvd Feb. 13, lJlT.

. Z $HEET$-SHEET I- WI THE 85' W. J. TOWER.

ROTARY VALVE.

APPLICATION FILED M0 22. 1915..

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2- WIT/V585 INVENTOR Azllze J 7bwer By WW1 ATTORNEY WILLIE J. TOWER, OF SEATTLE, WASHINGTON.

ROTARY VALVE.

To all whom it may concern: I

Be it known that I, WIL'LIE J. Towns, citizen of the United States, residrng at Seattle, in the county of King and btate of Washington, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Rotary Valves,

of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in rotary 4 valves of internal combustion engines, and the object of my'invention is to provide a duplex rotary valve of simple form which may be embodied in an internal combustion engine and which shall be adapted efficiently to operate to control both the intake .port and the exhaust port of a cylinder of said engine.

I accomplish this object by devices illustrated in the accompanying drawings wherein Figure 1 is a view in a side elevvation of portions of an internal combos tion engine embodying my invention, some parts of which are shown in vertical midsection; Fig. 2 is a fragmentary view showing parts of the same in another side elevation; Fig. 3 is a fragmentary view of the same in vertical section on broken line 3 y of Fig. 1; Fig. 4.- is a. fragmentary view of the same in vertical section on broken line to, a; of Fig. 1; and Fig. 5 is a fragmentary view in .le elevation of the same, showing details thereof.

I In the drawings, throughout which like reference numerals indicate like parts, I have illustrated an internal comlmstion. engine wherein (i is a crank case upon which secured the loner end of a cylinder 7 which is provided with a water jacket 8 in tegral therewith. and which is further provided with an integral valve-socl ct 9 on one sido'of ilston wall 10, as more clearly shown in Fig. 3, said valve-socket 9 being surrmuu'hal by said Water jacket 8.

Within the valve-socket 9 is rotatably disposed a closely fitting rotary valve 11 on one end of which is disposed an il'itegral journal .12 that fits a hearing that extends through one end of said valve-socket 9, and said journal 12 is provided with an extended portion '13 of smaller diameter upon which portion 13 is fastened a spur Wheel 1-1: having twelve teeth, as teeth 15, shown more clearly in Fig. 2, which teeth 15 are adapted to engage with a. worm-like cam '16 which Specification of Letters Patent.

, the crankshaft 25. I

is fastened on a shaft 17 tl at is disposed with its axis 'at a right angle to the axis of the rotary valve 11, and which shaft'lf 1s rotatably mounted in suitable bearings not shown. a

Mounted securely on one e1 1d of the shaft 17 is a beveled. gearwheel 18 which engages with a like beveled gearwh eel 19 that is fastened on the upper end of a shaft 20 which is disposed to be rotatable in hearing brackets 21. and 22 (the bearing bracket, 21 being fastened to the water jacket 8 Patented Feb. 13, 1917.;

Application filed December 22, 1915. Serial No. 68,283. i

while the bearing bracket 22 is fastened to one end of the crank case and on the lower end of said shaft 20 is fastened a beveled gearwheel 23 which is disposed to engage with a beveled gearvs heel 24 that is mounted securely on the crank shaft 25 of the engine, said gearwl eel 24L having twice as many teeth the gear-wheel 23 whereby the shafts 20 and 17 will each revolve twice in response to one revolution of i The wornrlike cam 16 is provided with a worm thread 26 whose tv 0 convolutlons (as shown in Fig. 2) are formed and dis-' so that as said spirally (llS)OSG(l side surfaces of said cams 27 rotatively move to engage with .and pass succes ;ive ones of the teeth 15 the spur wheel 14 W11 be rotatively moved through an angular iistance" of one of its teeth.

Thus, a continuous rotation of the shaft 17, in response to revolutions of the crank shaft '25, will cause interl'littent rotative movements of the spur wl eel 14, one of which. movements will-occul for each revolution of said shaft 17, and such intermittent rotative movements will be communicated to the rotary valve 11.

i It is manifest, therefore, t'. lat each revolution of the crank shaft 25 will cause the rotary valve 11 rotatively to moveat two separate times, each time through an angular distance of thirty degrees.

The other end of the valve socket 9 is provided with an internal screw-thread which engages with the external screwthread of an elbow 28 to which is connected an exhaust pipe 29, and near the inner end surface of said elbow 28 is an inlet passageway 30, for an explosive mixture of fuel and air, which extends upwardly through the walls of the water jacket 8 and the valve socket 9, as shown more clearly in Fig. 1.

The rotary valve 11 is provided with a centrally disposed longitudinal chamber 31, which opens into the elbow 28, and is further provided with three concentrically disposed longitudinal chambers 32 whose crosssectional shape is like a segment of a circle and which are placed equi-distant one from another, as more clearly shown in Figs. 3

and 4, and through the metal between adjacent ones of all three of said chambers 32 is a passageway, as passageways 33, which extends from the chamber 31 to the periphery of said rotary valve 11; and also extending from each of the several chambers 32 to the periphery of said rotary valve 11 at corresponding points thereof is a passageway, as passageways 34.

On the end portion of the rotary valve 11, in a position registering with theinlet passageway 30, there is formed an annular recess 35 which communicates with said' inlet passageway 30 and with all of the chambers 32 whereby at all times an explosive mixture may pass from said inlet passageway 30 to said chambers 32:

As shown more clearly in Fig. 3 there is a passageway 36 that extends from the inner surface of the-valve socket 9 through the "within the upper portion of the cylinder 7 top wall 10 into the interior of the cylinder 7, the form of said passageway 36 corrosponrling to the form of the several passa geways 33 and 34 whereby during the oper ation of the engine said passageways 33, and 34 will alternately register with said passageway 36 with the result that the interior of the cylinder 7 will alternately be in communication with the exhaust pipe 29 and the inlet passageway 30.

The relative circumferential positions of the worm-like cam 16, the spur wheel 14, the rotary valve lland the crank shaft 25 must be such as will, at required instants of time lsion of products of combustion lrom thecylinder 7 and the admission of an explosive mixture thereinto in an obvious manner? In orderto ignite an explosive mixture I have prov eda spark plug37 (a well tus not shown whereby sparks may be caused to jump from one of its electrodes to the other, and in order that such sparks may be controlled to occur at proper instants of time with respect to the varying positions of the rotary valve 11 I have provided one form of means for causing such sparks to occur only at such proper instants of time, which means include an insulated contact point 38, secured to the top portion of the cylinder 7, in which position it is adrpted to be engaged by a contact point 39 that is fixed on one end of a lever 40 that is pivotally fulcrumed'on a stud 41 that is fixed in a lug 42 that projects from the top portion of the wall of the Water jacket 8, the other end of said lever 40 being disposed invthe path of three cam-like projections 43 which are integral with the periphery of a' disk 44 which is attachedto the outer side of'the spur wheel 14 to be adjustably movable to desired different circumferential points thereon, whereby the contact points 38 and 39 may be caused to make andbreak contact with each other at required times with respect to the di erent circumferential positions of the rotary valve 11, said contact spring 45 which is adapted normally to keep the contact point 39 disengaged from'the "contact point 38.

One skilled in the art will readily understand the plan of construction and mode of operation of my invention upon reading the description of my invention hereinbefore given in connection with the accompanying drawings.

It is manifest that two separate rotary valves for the same cylinder may be substituted for the duplex rotary valve 11; in which case each of said two rotary valves would embody only one chamber having three equi-distantly disposed passageways through its walls which passageways would be moved successively to register with the respective one of two passageways that would be formed to extend from the interior of the cylinder each to a different one of the valve sockets of said two rotary valves, one of which passageways would serve as an intake port while the other would serve as an exhaust port in an obvious manner.

-Manifestly, the circuit controlling device which includesthe contact points 38 and 39, and the lever 40 togetherwith the disk 44 may be properly associated with suitable right-an engine instead of being directly associated with the spur wheel 14:, and other changes in the forms, dimensions and arrangement of parts of my invention Without departing from the spiritthereof.

What I claim is:

An internal combustion engine comprising a cylinder having an olfset valve casing carried thereby, a rotary valve mounted in said casing, said valve including concentric c linders closedat one end by anintegral larly extending wall, the opposite end of t 'e outer cylinder terminating inwardly of the outer end of the inner cylinder, an annular eripheralcollar carried by the inner cylindbr adjacent the open end with the outer edge lying in the same plane as the outer edge of the outer cylinder, radial connecting members between the cy1- inders dividing the space betw nan the c linders into non-communicating cham ers, ports extending through sail. connectin members from the interior of ';he inner cy inder to the exterior of the outer cylinder constituting an exhaust passage, and ports in the outer cylinder communicating with the chambers constituting gas inlets, a combined inlet and exhaust port n the engine cylinder adapted successively to register with the valve ports, and mean; for rotating thevalve.

In Witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe my name this seventh day of December, A. D. 1915.

WILLIE J TOWER.

Witnesses:

O Jolmson, A. HABKINS. 

